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Gardens of imagination: Back to Nature with landscape designer Inch Lim

Inch Lim with his award-winning garden titled 'The Wild and The Restless'— Pictures courtesy of Inch Lim
Inch Lim with his award-winning garden titled 'The Wild and The Restless'— Pictures courtesy of Inch Lim

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 – The weave of bamboo stretches to the sky. Then, twisting, it brings the eye back down to the ground where an abundance of tropical plants dominate, seemingly without the guiding touch of a human hand.

Appearances can be deceiving.

That human hand exists and it belongs to Malaysian landscape designer Inch Lim.

This garden, which Lim named “The Wild and The Restless”, celebrates the beauty of wayside plants – both native wild flora and migrant species from elsewhere – in South-east Asia, and won him the Best of Show title in the landscape gardens category at the Singapore Garden Festival 2018.

The 64-year-old has always been fascinated by Nature. Born in Batu Pahat in 1955, the landscape artist recalls growing up surrounded by forests.

He says, “As a young boy, I was outdoors all the time. My classmates remember me with snakes in my pockets, toads inside my desk, in streams catching fish – in those days there were a lot more animals.”

Beguiled by dragonflies, Lim would observe their flight patterns and their colours. He adds, “They were like flying jewels. Also, I’ve never told anyone else this but at 10 years old, I learned to paddle sampans standing up. The oars were very heavy and you had to adjust them all the time.”

A career revolving around Nature, be it a horticulturist or a zookeeper, was out of the question, however. There was an expectation for Lim to succeed in a more conventional manner.

'The Wild and The Restless' celebrates the beauty of wayside plants in South-east Asia
'The Wild and The Restless' celebrates the beauty of wayside plants in South-east Asia

He says, “Of course, coming from a Chinese family, you had to study and get a good job. I was in Canada for some years, studying politics and economics, then returned home to join the family business.”

Lim (far left) with the other judges at the BBC Gardeners’ World 'Live' 2019 in Birmingham
Lim (far left) with the other judges at the BBC Gardeners’ World 'Live' 2019 in Birmingham

Never one to give up, Lim continued to indulge in his interests, from building his own timber houses after acquiring a piece of land to experimenting in his garden. He says, “I’ve always been interested in design. Design gives you a window into creativity which is a lot different from theory-based subjects.

"So over time, I built up knowledge on tropical plants. Then things just happened. I started doing stuff in Hong Kong as I had friends there, which eventually led to me starting my own landscape design firm 20 years ago.”

Lim’s concepts hark back to his childhood days, which taught him to see that the whole of Nature is a seamless whole. One beautiful example of this is his “Washinboutei” Garden in Japan.

The name is derived from the Japanese words heiwa (“peace”), shinko (“faith”), kibou (“hope”) and teien (“garden”), and indeed the garden is a touching response to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

The 'Washinboutei' garden in Japan is a reflection on peace, faith and hope
The 'Washinboutei' garden in Japan is a reflection on peace, faith and hope

The plants are chosen for their sombre colours: purples and near black. The hard, cold steel of the wall is painted red to denote anguish and lives lost. The trees bent low under the weight of their heavy boughs, as though they are bowing or weeping or both. The path disappears under the still water, invisible and requiring some faith for visitors to walk on it.

Lim shares, “It’s so moving to see visitors just sit there and cry. It’s a reminder that gardens have an experiential role rather than only visual pleasure. They create a much deeper relationship between me and my audience.”

Experiences form memories and memory is more lasting.

Certainly, Lim has had his fair share of memorable experiences lately. In June, he became the first Malaysian invited to judge the Show Gardens competition at the BBC Gardeners’ World "Live" 2019 in Birmingham. It was also his first time being on the other side of the fence.

Structural bamboo featured in 'The Wild and The Restless' (left). Lim’s 'Prince of Persia' garden was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show (right).
Structural bamboo featured in 'The Wild and The Restless' (left). Lim’s 'Prince of Persia' garden was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show (right).

“Judging rather than being judged helps me look at things from a different perspective. For one, I’ve more sympathy for the gardeners, in particular those who are climbing up the ladder and not as advanced yet, trying to do things that they’re not necessarily used to doing. However, I still want to make sure that they meet the grade before I give them the marks,” he explains.

What Lim specifically looked out for included the impact and command of the space, proportion, colour, texture, and even the very selection of plants used. He says, “Does it do what it sets out to do? If it’s called ‘Tranquillity’ but it’s very busy, then no. There should be sensible space progression: like architecture, when building a house, you don’t want visitors to enter and step into the bedroom first. Also, colours can clash horribly. There must be harmony.”

Ultimately, Lim insists on holding everything to a very high standard. He says, “Given my experience in show gardens, I understand the quality required and what people who build gardens are trying to do. I do tend to be more critical but that’s only because I need them to go even further in their imagination.”

Lim has certainly gone the distance with his imagination. Past visitors to the Singapore Garden Festival 2016 may still dream of his contribution, "The Treasure Box." Designed as a large box with 5-metre-high walls, the entire structure was covered with rice plants symbolising sustenance for the people – life, as it were. Combined with a small waterfall, it was truly a green treasure.

'The Treasure Box' at the Singapore Garden Festival 2016
'The Treasure Box' at the Singapore Garden Festival 2016

The judges apparently agreed as "The Treasure Box" was awarded Gold, Best of Show and Horticulture Excellence awards in the Landscape Garden category. Beyond such accolades, however, Lim is more philosophical about where the true value of his projects lies.

“In the last 10 years, if I look back at my body of work as if I had been younger, I would be over the moon to have produced these gardens. At the end of the day, it’s about the relationship with people. You don’t do it for yourself just as a cook doesn’t cook for himself but for others to eat. So it has to come from yourself and it has to go to someone else.”

For Lim, every garden is an opportunity for its designer to expound a clear vision – “The most successful gardens can bring out that vision for people to absorb,” he says – and to engage the imagination to the fullest.

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